Indeed a huge loss for the researcher fraternity as Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini died in her home at the age of 103. She is known for her consistent efforts in the field of tracking critical chemical tools, which plays a key role in directing cell growth and build nerve networks.

"I don't use these words easily, but her work revolutionized the study of neural development, from how we think about it to how we intervene", said Dr. Gerald D. Fishbach, a neuroscientist and professor emeritus at Columbia, in response to the death of the lady, who never married.

She has apparently started researching about chicken embryos in the bedroom of her house in Turin, Italy, during World War II, and after years of long reseseazrch, she along with Dr. Stanley Cohen, a biochemist also at Washington University, managed to unleash a protein, which further revealed a lot about disorders of neural growth.

It was in 1986 that she along with Dr. Cohen shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their contribution in understanding diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's disease etc.

She had even opposed a manifesto barring non-Aryan Italians from having professional careers, and continued with her way of life, thereby showing what she was made up of.